In a comment on “50 Years“, Carl noted that he finds “. . . the blog, (and its differentiating between posts and comments) quite uninspiring and sometimes over complex to follow compared to say the Society of Ancients Forum or the DBA Fanaticus forum, or the now defunct Society of Twentieth Century Wargamers . . .”
The vibrant “Letters to the Editors” page of many years past is also something that comes up when discussions of the lack of blog post submissions comes up – indeed that was among my own favorite features of the journal when I first joined the SWA, so much so that I even submitted a few. I would love to be able to capture again that vibe of readers communicating with each other.
For a while now, I have been thinking about what we might be able to do to generate that kind of participation online, that doesn’t involve begging for blog posts. Of course, I, and others, are not above doing that mind you, in fact, you can consider this a plea to submit something for the blog, but it doesn’t typically result in a sustained stream of submissions.
Carl’s comment drove home to me that adding a forum to the site could be the right approach – not to replace the blog, but to enhance opportunities for readers to associate with each other, outside the formality of a blog post and the post’s associated comment section (which has to be moderated for spam).
Forums at their heart are about conversations between the participants in the forum – sharing opinions, asking questions and making comments on the forum’s topic. Think Facebook Groups, Groups.io, or Reddit, for example.
You can also visit our Online Resources page for links to specific solo gaming-related examples.
Blog posts, while they may spark a conversation, are typically geared towards an author sharing an article/post about a topic. It is more like the Lone Warrior journal in that respect. And, to be frank, it is not expected that every post will yield comments, let alone a conversation.
Generally speaking, not just for our blog here, blog communication tends to be one way.
Still, the blog provides grist for the search engine mills which then, hopefully, rank us high in relevant search results. This is a valuable function and a large part of why I don’t suggest a forum replace the blog.
Unlike blog posts, which must be reviewed and edited for grammar, spelling and layout, the barrier for posting on a forum can be much lower and posts could go live immediately or nearly so. Although that does raise questions about forum moderation, I think we can wait to address that until we’ve got some sense of interest level.
There are forum plug-ins for WordPress – this site uses WordPress for content management – so, on the surface at least, it looks like a forum could be relatively easy to integrate into our existing site structure (famous last words?)
However, before I go down the road of evaluating plug-ins, what are your thoughts on an SWA forum?
Does this sound like something you would be likely to participate in? Or, lowering the bar, at least more likely to participate in compared to submitting blog posts?
Would you prefer it be open to the public – the way the blog is – or behind a log-in for members of the SWA, a perk of membership if you will?
Or do you think this would just be lost in the noise of other solo (and non-solo) war gaming forums on other platforms?
I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below or if you don’t want to speak publicly, you can reach me via our contact form.
Cheers!
John
p.s. I will also write up something for the journal to invite input from people who don’t spend much time on this site.
G’day John,
Excellent idea to set up a Forum! Anything that makes it easier for members and newcomers to talk hobby and exchange ideas is a good thing!
Cheers
GB
Hi John
I agree with George, anything to increase interaction would be appreciated. I’d happily participate in a forum .
All the best
Martin
I belong to several sites that have a forum and that style does seem to increase activity / participation though it’s not guaranteed to do so. I would suggest that restricting it to members might solve some of the potential moderation problems.
I meant to add that I’m keen on seeing more activity on the blog / whatever in the hope for more feedback on articles. I’m a fairly regular contributer but would really appreciate feedback on what I’m writing – are the ideas clear, is the style readable, did you find the ideas interesting. do possible wider applications come to mind? Feedback does help to sustain writers through what is usually quite a lot of work.
Hi Brian,
I have to agree that feedback on articles would most likely increase submissions. Most people don’t like public speaking and I think there is a similar trepidation for people to publish their work in what is essentially an international publication! As you’ve mentioned, a lot of effort goes into the writing of LW articles, there is a benchmark set by the excellent submissions of previous authors and hence a nervousness on behalf of new writers as to whether they’ve ’hit the mark’ or not. I encouraged a friend to write for the journal, which he was good enough to do, but both during the writing and after publication, he was seeking feedback to ensure what he wrote was ‘good enough’ for the journal and was of interest to the members. He got zero feedback on his work, apart from the introductory Editor’s comments. I thought his work was excellent, and told him so, based on what I seen in previous editions through the Compendium project, which thankfully was sufficient for him to write another article with plans for more. So I suppose the lesson is, if you read an article in the Journal that you really like, give a shout out to the author (via the blog/forum) and you will likely get more of the same or encourage the author to submit new stuff as well. If you don’t like an article, for whatever reason, then constructive critique would also help the author to improve their work.
As an example, I wrote up a battle report in a narrative style in one of my articles and felt it read well and told the story of the battle in a gripping and entertaining manner, I was subsequently somewhat mortified to read a letter in a previous Journal where the reader indicated how much he disliked narrative reports and wanted to see details of how the author’s mechanics worked, what where the die rolls needed, what results did they produce, how did the author implement those results etc? Now that was only one reader , from a few years ago, but it did give me pause to reconsider my style of writing and what the broader readership would be looking for in Journal articles. I passed this info on to my friend when he was writing his article, and he implemented that advice, which was another reason why I believed he had hit the mark with his work. It would have been great to get some feedback to confirm what my, and subsequently his, interpretation of reader needs was, and whether we had met them or not.
I have the impression that most Journal articles are not done as a grandstanding exercise by the authors but are written in the spirit to pass on information that may be of use to others, so are written as a service to others and not for self gratification. To this end, feedback is critical to help authors, and those thinking to write, provide the information that people are looking for. So if you don’t ask, you don’t get! If you don’t like, and you don’t say, then nothing changes!
The Compendium project is a direct result of a member’s request, and that has seen a team of around ten fellow members step up to help meet that need, for the benefit of the wider membership.
So, if you believe things can be done better, either with the Journal or other services the SWA provides, then sing out. Also, if such request comes through, and you have the skills and time to help, then I would hope you would be prepared to step up and contribute.
Cheers
G
I think a forum would be an excellent idea
Take care Andy
G’day Andy,
Looks like another vote for a forum!
Not sure how difficult it is to set up, but maybe a great initiative to kick off/celebrate the SWA Jubilee?!
Cheers
George
Thank you all for your comments.
As soon as the compendium has launched, I’ll segue over to investigating getting us a forum set up.
There are WordPress plugins for forums and that’s probably where I’ll start my search.
If anyone has one they recommend, please do share!
– John
Hi John,
Great to hear a forum is on the radar! Since you’re looking for WordPress plugin recommendations, I’d definitely lean towards bbPress as the best starting point, though BuddyPress is worth keeping in mind too:
bbPress (Recommended): Ideal if you want a clean, traditional, and lightweight discussion board. It’s very fast, simple to set up, and focuses purely on standard threaded topics and replies, which fits the Lone Warrior style perfectly.
BuddyPress (Alternative/Future Option): A fantastic choice if you ever want to make the site more social down the line. It adds a broader community layer with robust member profiles, activity streams, and user groups.
Because they are both built by the core WordPress team, they integrate seamlessly with the existing platform. You can easily start with bbPress and then bridge over or add BuddyPress elements later if the community wants a more social feel.
One thing to bear in mind with either option is that extra work will definitely be needed to lock down registration and stop spam bots. Pairing the forum with a robust captcha or restricting registration to verified members from day one will save a lot of moderation headaches later!
Hope this helps with the shortlist!
Cheers,
Andrew
Thank you, Andrew!
The recommendations are very much appreciated.
I will start my investigation with those!
Cheers!
– John
You are welcome